Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell (born June 13, 1943) is an English actor, whose career spans more than four decades. McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange and Caligula. His versatility as an actor has led to his presence in many films and television series of different genres, including Tank Girl, Star Trek Generations, the TV serial Our Friends in the North, Entourage, Heroes, Metalocalypse, the animated movie Bolt (as Dr. Calico), the 2007 remake of Halloween, the 2009 sequel Halloween II, and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (as Shifu's Father in the episode "Father Crime"). He is also well known for his narration of the seminal 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles. Early life McDowell was born Malcolm John Taylor in Horsforth, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire, now a part of the City of Leeds, the son of Edna (née McDowell), a hotelier, and Charles Taylor, a publican. 2005 Philadelphia Film Festival: Artistic Achievement Award to Malcolm McDowell His family later relocated to Bridlington, since his father was in the Royal Air Force. McDowell trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Career McDowell began his professional life serving drinks in his parents' pub and then as a coffee salesman (the latter job providing inspiration for the movie O Lucky Man!). While enrolled in Cannock House School, he began taking acting classes, and eventually secured work as an extra with the Royal Shakespeare Company. McDowell made his screen debut as school rebel Mick Travis in If.... (1968) by British director Lindsay Anderson. This was followed by Figures in a Landscape (1970) and The Raging Moon (1971). His performance in If.... caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who cast McDowell as the lead in A Clockwork Orange, adapted from the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess. He won great acclaim (nominated for a Golden Globe and an award by the New York Film Critics Circle in the category of Best Actor) for his role as Alex, a young hoodlum brainwashed by a dystopian British government of the near future. McDowell worked with Anderson again for O Lucky Man! (1973), which was based on his own idea, and Britannia Hospital (1982). McDowell regularly turned up on British television productions in the 1970s in adaptations of theatre classics, one example being with Laurence Olivier in The Collection (1976), as part of the series Laurence Olivier Presents. He starred in Aces High (1975) and co-starred in Voyage of the Damned (1976), and as Dornford Yates' gentleman hero Richard Chandos in She Fell Among Thieves (1977). He made his Hollywood debut as H.G. Wells in Time After Time (1979). He often portrayed antagonists in the late 1970s and 1980s, including the title character in Caligula (1979). He later remarked upon his career playing film villains: "I suppose I'm primarily known for that but in fact, that would only be half of my career if I was to tot it all up." In his biography Anthony Burgess: A Life, author Roger Lewis commented on McDowell's later career; "his pretty-boy looks faded and he was condemned to playing villains in straight-to-video movies that turn up on Channel 5."[Roger Lewis, Anthony Burgess: A Life, published 2002] McDowell appeared in the 1983 action film Blue Thunder as F.E. Cochrane, and the 1982 remake of Cat People. In 1983, he starred in Get Crazy as Reggie Wanker, a parody of Mick Jagger. Also in 1983, McDowell starred as The Wolf (Reginald von Lupen) in Faerie Tale Theatre's rendition of "Little Red Riding Hood" (his wife at that time, Mary Steenburgen, played Little Red Riding Hood). In 1984, he narrated the documentary The Compleat Beatles. He is known in Star Trek circles as "the man who killed Captain Kirk" in the 1994 film Star Trek Generations, in which he played the mad scientist Dr. Tolian Soran. McDowell appeared in several computer games, most notably as Admiral Tolwyn in the Wing Commander series of computer games. His appearance in Wing Commander III marked the series transition from 2D pre-rendered cutscenes to live-action cutscenes. His appearance in Wing Commander IV was during the final days of video game live action cutscenes. In 1995, he co-starred with actress and artist Lori Petty in the action/science fiction/comedy film Tank Girl. Here, he played the villain Dr. Kesslee, the evil director of the global Water and Power Company, whose main goal in the story was to control the planet's entire water supply on a future desert-like, post-apocalyptic Earth. McDowell appeared in a unique episode of the animated series South Park, which provided a comedic retelling of the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. In the episode, McDowell played the real-life narrator of the story in live action, introducing himself simply as "a British person", in a parody of Masterpiece Theatre, and its ex-host, Alistair Cooke. McDowell played himself in Robert Altman's The Player, in which he chastises protagonist Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) for badmouthing him behind his back. He worked with Altman once again in 2003 for The Company as "Mr. A.", the fictional director of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. His character was based on real-life director Gerald Arpino. In the 2003 film, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, he played a straight married man who rapes a young drug dealer to "teach him a lesson". The film also starred Clive Owen as the victim's older brother. In 2006, McDowell portrayed radio mogul Jonas Slaughter on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The following year he portrayed the villainous Mr. Linderman on the first season of the NBC series Heroes, a role he reprised in the third season premiere. He starred in Jerry Was a Man, which appeared as an episode of Masters of Science Fiction on Sky. He portrayed Terrence McQuewick on Entourage and Julian Hodge on Monk. McDowell appeared as Dr. Sam Loomis in Rob Zombie's remakes of Halloween and Halloween II (in 2007 and 2009, respectively).TRINITY OF TERRORS Guest Profile: Malcolm McDowell He also played Desmond LaRochette in Robert Whitlow's The List, and Irish patriarch Enda Doyle in Red Roses and Petrol (2008). His next film is the Canadian vampire comedy rock and roll movie Suck with actor/director Rob Stefaniuk and the upcoming Alex Wright film Two Wolves. In December 2009, he made an appearance in the music video "Snuff" by the band Slipknot. He appears, uncredited, as Lombardi, the curator, in the 2010 film, The Book of Eli. McDowell portrayed Satan in the upcoming Christian comedy thriller film Suing the Devil. McDowell is set to appear in the upcoming films Vamps and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D as Leonard Wolf, an insane cult leader. In 2011 McwDowell was cast in the role of Stanton Infeld on the TNT original series Franklin & Bash. Voice acting McDowell was the featured narrator in the documentary, The Compleat Beatles released in 1982. McDowell has lent his voice to Lord Maliss in Happily Ever After, the Superman villain Metallo in Superman: The Animated Series, Mad Mod in Teen Titans, Merlyn in DC Showcase: Green Arrow, Arkady Duvall (son of Ra's Al Ghul) in Batman: The Animated Series and as the voice of a Death Star commander in a Robot Chicken episode parodying Star Wars. He is also a regular on the second season of the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse as Vater Orlaag and other characters. McDowell also voiced Dr. Calico in Disney's Bolt. McDowell also lent his voice to the henchman Reeses II in the animated series Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys, a show laced with references to many movies including his own break-out role in A Clockwork Orange. In 2006–07, he contributed spoken word to two Pink Floyd tribute albums produced by Billy Sherwood: Back Against the Wall, and Return to the Dark Side of the Moon. In 2008, McDowell began a recurring role as Grandpa Fletcher on Phineas and Ferb. He also narrated the award-winning documentary Blue Gold: World Water Wars. McDowell reprised his role of Metallo in the video game Superman: Shadow of Apokolips and an episode of Justice League Unlimited. He also provided his voice for the character President John Henry Eden in the video game Fallout 3, Rupert Pelham in the game WET, King Solomon in the Word of Promise Audio Bible, and the CEO of Stahl Arms in Killzone 3, Jorhan Stahl. He also voiced Daedalus in God of War III. McDowell portrays the role of "Caiaphas" in "The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible," a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully dramatized audio New Testament which uses the RSV-CE translation. McDowell is the host of "Fangoria's Dreadtime Stories", a monthly series of fully dramatised radio dramas with a mystery, horror, science fiction and dark humor theme. Written by top writers of today, including Dennis Etchison and Max Allan Collins, these stories are creepy, cutting edge and not for the faint of heart. The series is produced by Carl Amari, who also produces The Twilight Zone radio dramas. The executive producer is Thomas DeFeo (CEO of Fangoria magazine) with Chris Roe as the associate producer. Original music for each episode is by Chris Alexander, an established composer and Fangoria editor-in-chief. Each month a new episode is available for free streaming worldwide at Fangoria's website www.fangoria.com All episodes, current and past, are available for digital download. The radio drama scripts, which are used by McDowell and the supporting actors, are also available to print in PDF at the Fangoria website for free. Personal life McDowell was married to extra Margot Bennett from 1975–80. He then married Mary Steenburgen, whom he had first met while filming Time After Time, and they had two children together: Lily Amanda (born 21 January 1981) and Charles Malcolm (born 10 July 1983), before ending their relationship in 1990. In 1991, McDowell married Kelley Kuhr with a 20 year age gap, with whom he has three children: Beckett Taylor McDowell (born 29 January 2004), Finnian Anderson McDowell (born 23 December 2006), and Seamus Hudson McDowell (born 7 January 2009). He currently resides in Ojai, California. He is the uncle of actor Alexander Siddig, who appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Kingdom of Heaven, Syriana, 24, and the current fourth (2011) season of the UK and BBC America hit series Primeval. He and his nephew both appeared in the movie Doomsday by director Neil Marshall. He became a grandfather in January of 2012 when daughter Lilly McDowell Walton gave birth to a girl, Clementine Mae. Filmography, Voice-overs and TV work *''if....'' (1968) *''Figures in a Landscape'' (1970) *''The Raging Moon'' (1971) *''A Clockwork Orange'' (1971) *''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) – also writer *''Royal Flash'' (1975) *''Voyage of the Damned'' (1976) *''Aces High'' (1976) *''Laurence Olivier Presents: ''The Collection (TV) (1976) *''Caligula'' (1979) *''The Passage'' (1979) *''Time After Time'' (1979) *''Look Back in Anger'' (1980) *''Britannia Hospital'' (1982) *''Cat People'' (1982) *''Blue Thunder'' (1983) *''Cross Creek'' (1983) *''Faerie Tale Theatre's Little Red Riding Hood'' (TV) (1983) *''Get Crazy'' (1983) *''The Compleat Beatles'' (1984) *''Merlin and the Sword'' (TV) (1985) *''Gulag'' (TV) (1985) *''The Caller'' (1987) *''Buy & Cell'' (1987) *''Sunset'' (1988) *''Mortacci'' (1989) *''II Maestro'' (1989) *''Jezebel's Kiss'' (1990) *''Schweitzer'' (1990) *''Class of 1999'' (1990) *''Moon 44'' (1990) *''Disturbed'' (1990). *''The Assassin of the Tsar'' (1991) *''Tales from the Crypt'' (episode The Reluctant Vampire) (TV)(1991) *''The Player'' (1992) *''Chain of Desire'' (1992) *''Vent d'est'' (1993) *''Happily Ever After'' (voice) (1993) *''Night Train to Venice'' (1993) *''Bopha!'' (1993) *''Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger'' (VG) (1994) *''The Man Who Wouldn't Die'' (TV) (1994) *''Cyborg 3: The Recycler'' (1994) *''Star Trek Generations'' (1994) *''In The Eye of the Snake'' (1994) *''Dangerous Indescretion'' (1994) *''Milk Money'' (1994) *''Spider-Man'' (TV) (voice)(1994) *''Exquisite Tenderness'' (1995) *''Tank Girl'' (1995) *''Fist of the North Star'' (1995) *''The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century'' (TV) (voice) (1996) *''Ringer'' (1996) *''Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom'' (VG) (1996) *''Our Friends in the North'' (TV) (1996) *''The Little Riders'' (TV) (1996) *''Where Truth Lies'' (1996) *''Wing Commander Academy'' (TV) (voice) (1996) *''Pearl'' (TV) (1996–1997) *''Superman: The Animated Series'' (TV) (voice) (1996–2000) *''Kids of the Round Table'' (1995) *''Asylum'' (1997) *''2103: The Deadly Wake'' (1997) *''Hugo Pool'' (1997) *''Mr. Magoo'' (1997) *''Lexx'' (TV, episode Giga Shadow) (1997) *''Fantasy Island'' (TV) (1998–1999) *''The Fairy King of Ar'' (1998) *''The Gardener'' (1998) (Also known as Garden of Evil and as Silent Screams) *''Fatal Pursuit'' (1998) *''The First 9½ Weeks'' (1998) *''Can of Worms'' (TV) (voice) (1999) *''Southern Cross'' (1999) *''Love Lies Bleeding'' (1999) *''My Life So Far'' (1999) *''Y2K'' (1999) (Also known as Terminal Countdown) *''The David Cassidy Story'' (TV) (2000) *''Gangster No. 1'' (2000) *''Island of the Dead'' (2000) *''St. Patrick: The Irish Legend'' (TV) (2000) *''South Park'' (episode "Pip") (TV) (2000) *''The Barber'' (2001) (Also known as Le Barbier) *''Pact with the Devil'' (2001) *''Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures'' (2001) *''Just Visiting'' (2001) *''Princess of Thieves'' (TV) (2001) *''The Void'' (2001) *''Firestarter 2: Rekindled'' (TV) (2002) *''I Spy'' (2002) *''Between Strangers'' (2002) *''Shadow Realm'' (TV) (2002) *''Superman: Shadow of Apokolips'' (VG) (voice) (2002) *''Tempo'' (2003) *''The Company'' (2003) *''Inhabited'' (2003) *''I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'' (2003) *''Hidalgo'' (2004) *''Evilenko'' (2004) *''Bobby Jones: A Stroke of Genius'' (2004) *''Tempesta'' (2004) *''Pinocchio 3000'' (voice) (2004) *''Chalkzone'' (TV) (voice) (2004) *''In Good Company'' (2004) *''Rag Tale'' (2005) *''Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone'' (voice) (2005) *''Mirror Wars: Reflection One'' (2005) *''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' (TV) (voice) (2005) *''Cut Off'' (2006) *''Bye Bye Benjamin'' (2006) *''Spooks'' (TV) (2006) *''Monk (TV) (2006) *''The Curse of King Tut's Tomb'' (TV) (2006) *''Entourage'' (TV) (2005–2006, 2009, 2011) *''The List'' (2007) *''Exitz'' (2007) *''Robot Chicken: Star Wars'' (TV) (2007) *''Halloween'' (2007) *''Heroes'' (TV) (2007, 2008) *''War and Peace'' (TV) (2007) *''Metalocalypse'' (TV) (voice) (2007 – present) *''Phineas and Ferb'' (TV) (voice) (2007–2009) *''Red Roses and Petrol'' (2008) *''Doomsday'' (2008) *''Delgo'' (voice) (2008) *''Coco Chanel'' (TV) (2008) *''Fallout 3'' (VG) (voice) (2008) *''Bolt'' (voice) (2008) *''The Evening Journey'' (2008) *''Blue Gold: World Water Wars'' (2008) *''Bolt'' (VG) (voice) (2009) *''Super Rhino'' (short) (voice) (2009) *''Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising'' (VG) (2009) *''Halloween II'' (2009) *''Suck'' (2009) *''Wet'' (VG) (2009) *''Snuff'' (Music video) by Slipknot (2009) *''The Book of Eli'' (2010) *''CSI: Miami'' (TV series) (2010) *''Barry Munday'' (2010) *''Pound of Flesh'' (2010) *''Golf in the Kingdom'' (2010) *''LEGO Hero Factory'' (TV series) (voice) (2010–2011) *''Easy A'' (2010) *''Santiago Files'' (narrator) (2010) *''God of War III'' (VG) (2010) *''Green Arrow'' (voice) (2010) *''The Mentalist'' (TV series) (2010) *''Franklin & Bash'' (TV series) *''Killzone 3'' (VG) (2011) *''The Artist'' (2011) *''Psych'' (2011) *''Suing the Devil'' (2011) *''Silent Hill: Revelation 3D'' (TBA) *''Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'' (TV series) (voice) (2012) *''The Annoying Orange'' (2012) References External links * * * * * N.P. Thompson's interview with Malcolm McDowell for Slant/The House Next Door * An in-depth interview with Malcolm McDowell covering his entire career from HoboTrashcan.com * Interactive video talk by McDowell on the British "Free Cinema" movement of the 50s, made for the British Film Institute * "What if..." – The Guardian, 24 April 2004. In-depth profile and interview. * "O Lucky Man! Malcolm McDowell's journey from coffee salesman to movie star" – The Times, 17 May 2008 * "Audiobook read by Malcolm McDowell" – The Bobbything, 2010 Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English voice actors Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:People from Bridlington Category:People from Horsforth